Monday 4th June 2018
Handmade a prototype ‘My Dark Matter’ pamphlet (solo version of ‘Dark Matter 5’ which featured my work alongside poems by Catherine Ayres published by Black Light Engine Room Press) that I’d like to put out on Talking Pen for Halloween. Enjoyed tracing and hand-lettering the cover. I selected all the materials for a zine making workshop. Mainly listened to Bad Pollyanna today. They have a new album out soon.
Tuesday 5th June 2018
One of the questions in the Waddington Street Centre lunchtime quiz: which album is Yellow Submarine on? I guessed Revolver. Much as I like stuff I’ve heard over the years by The Beatles I’ve only played a couple of their studio albums all the way through. Tonight I played The White Album, most of Sergeant Pepper, and all of Revolver – which has more songs on it that I know than the others. Too tired to do much but listen to music this evening. Today’s workshop was a booklet-making session: basic A5 stapled untrimmed pamphlet, hand-sewn pamphlet, A6 pocket broadsheet and A7 mini-zine. Took ages to set up and lots of equipment. And an hour to pack everything away afterwards. Jane Burn was happy with her restock of ‘Fat Around the Middle’ pamphlets this morning. Good to get the green light from BLER regarding a Talking Pen reprint of my work from Dark Matter 5. Been eating healthily of late, appear to have lost a little weight. 11.45pm.
Wednesday 6th June 2018
Watched some book-trimming videos, looked at new heavy duty staplers online, trimmed a book block by hand as a practice for Anomalies Deluxe. Read some of Henry Miller’s ‘Black Spring’, worked up some of the first drafts from my belated run of last year’s GloPoWriMo. Quite a bit typed but no line breaks yet. Might just leave them as prose poems. Should have a lot of material to play with for next year. Listened to both Bad Pollyanna albums: ‘Monstrous Child’ and ‘The Broken Toys.’ Began shaping the set for Poetry in the Park. Had over thirty poems initially – which is way too many and have whittled some away – but until I do a timed rehearsal I’ll not know how much will have to be chopped. A second list gave me another 30 – 40 pieces. I should be doing more gigs, surely. Had a lush chicken dinner this evening. Good to find my copy of Albert Huffstickler’s poetry collection ‘The Cosmology of Madness’ which has been mislaid for quite some time. 11.15 pm.
Thursday 7th June 2018
Yay! Mint night at Waddy. Place was full for Poetry Jam. Lots of new folk there. Ken Brady was good and got laughs. Lisette Auton totally engaged us – brilliant twenty minute set. And David Lee Morgan had the place lit. So chuffed he sold copies of The River was a God. Great to have a visit from Rose Drew and Alan Gillott of Stairwell Books. And Sarah Hammersley. Lots of good open floor poems tonight. Chuffed to sell some copies of my (This Is Not A) PROSE POEM mini-zine. Thanks to Fergus for a lift home. Pretty knackered now. 11.51pm.
Friday 8th June 2018
Felt a bit flat this morning. Think it’s just a lack of sleep. Seem to be waking too early and taking far too long to get started on anything. The Poetry Jam photo uploads went okay, but still four hours to edit, upload and tag. Killed another lawnmower. Seem to destroy them at the same rate as electric kettles and budget price microwave ovens – about every two years they give up the ghost. Have managed to Frankenstein one back to life but need a couple of neck bolts –
seriously. Not buying a new fucker. Spoke to Mam and Ernie on the phone. Rode over to Jen’s on the bike. Bottom bracket grunting a bit and needs replacing. I’m trying not to spend too much. Need toner cartridge and paper for books. Really tired tonight. 11.10pm.
Saturday 9th June 2018
Up late, did a couple of ideas from last year’s GloPoWriMo. Chatted to Jen about work and went to Tesco for supplies. Ravioli on toast. Watched Columbo and The Chase. Then a cheese sandwich and out to see Toyah at Newcastle 02 Academy. Surprised she booked such a big venue. She got a canny turnout and played a blinder. Loads of energy. Band real tight. ‘Obsolete’ was mint. All the hits, a couple of covers. Ended on IEYA. Out just after ten. Watched TOTP back at Jen’s. 11.16pm.
Sunday 10th June 2018
All aches and pains. Ears ringing loudly again after Toyah gig, but not as serious as last weekend after Bad Pollyanna. Watched Ninja Warrior. Jenni made a nice steamed veg dinner. We lazed a bit then I went into town to buy apple pie. Tonight I rode home after the rain and got up to the eyes in clarts. Listened to New Order songs, had blackcurrant jam on toast. 11.36pm.
Monday 11th June 2018
Bit of a lie in. Then notebook copy-ups till lunchtime. Cheese and tomato sandwiches. Listened to a live New Order album whilst keying in student poems. The album had a few Joy Division songs on it. Also listened to a couple of the same JD songs performed by Peter Hook and the Light. Knocked off typing at teatime, had a chicken salad and listened to the Henry and Heidi podcast about the making of Black Flag’s ‘My War’ album. Keyed in more student stuff then some of my own. I want to go through all of Toyah Willcox’s albums from ‘Sheep Farming in Barnet’, ‘The Blue Meaning’ ‘Anthem’… right up to ‘In the Court of the Crimson Queen’ with lyric sheets for each. Likewise all the New Order. There isn’t a lot of current music I feel any great urgency to acquire. Same with books. I have thousands. And a poor memory. I could stay at home until I’m sixty and still not know what’s in them all. 10.57pm.
Tuesday 12th June 2018
Pleasant bus journey to Jen’s after another mini-zine workshop. Nice little walk through Bensham to check out the Mind Wellbeing Centre where I have a meeting tomorrow. Then we trawled the local Tesco and Nisa for snacks. Settled on McVities caramel digestive bars and a 200g back of salted peanuts. Taggart was on TV but we were mainly talking – about jobs, the poetry community, residencies, and summer gigs. 10.30pm.
Wednesday 13th June 2018
Tired most of the day. Meeting at Tyneside Mind went well. They are keen to have me in for workshops if we can secure funding. Jen says really push the grant application. She is busy with consultancy work on a series of poetry slams and Edinburgh Free Fringe previews. She went out this afternoon; I stayed at her place to read poems and have a little sleep. Then out to get a greetings card. Got an eat4less meal. They’ve changed the seating and moved some of the display cabinets. Lots of little square tables and red leather seating along one wall. Went for a look in HMV afterwards. Good Nick Cave art books. Great punk stuff as well. Pix of Toyah in one book. But none of her albums… Lisa Matthews Calisto launch was great. Guest readers were Linda France, Jo Colley, Crista Ermiya and Gillian Alnutt. Lisa’s book is brilliant. Lush prose poems. Enjoyed the accompanying slide show. Wrote a new thing on the bus home. 11.31pm.
Thursday 14th June 2018
Consett town centre a fucking hurricane today. Blown all over the place; tree branches in the streets, cyclists battling to stay upright. I walked to Gralands hardware store for bolts to fix the Frankenstein lawnmower. Didn’t really know what to ask for but the guy sorted me out. Spent very little on food today. Really skint at present. Good to chat with Lorraine Weightman ahead of our appearances at the Derwent Valley Litfest ‘Poetry in the Park’ event next week. This evening I rehearsed my set four times. Switched a few things around to create new links, ditched some sequences – think it’s pretty good. Comes in at 29 minutes, so hopefully with adrenalin there’ll be a bit of leeway for adlibs. Been listening to Bad Pollyanna tonight. Bed soon. 11.23pm.
Friday 15th June 2018
Lots of aggravation with projects and work. Kept losing my temper and cursing the world, so had a big sleep this afternoon and felt a lot better. Amended the Poetry in the Park event cards to include Jenni. Tweaked standard ANOMALIES. New toner cartridge arrived, so I’ll do a fresh test print of the book soon. 11.35pm.
Saturday 16th June 2018
Good to see Helen Steadman’s Widdershins talk again for the opening of the Derwent Valley Literary Festival. Five hour round trip to Winlaton. Enjoyed the ride. Sat at the computer this evening trying to delete the first ten page numbers from ANOMALIES but it’s impossible to alter the footer in Word without upsetting the page margins. Don’t want to just print out, tippex and photocopy the verso and contents pages and the last ten page separately. Got a migraine coming on. Bed now, otherwise I’ll puke my guts up. 10.42pm.
Sunday 17th June 2018
Awake at four this morning. Watched a YouTube video of Jenni being interviewed by The Man in the Van (Ian Gordon) about poetry and JibbaJabba posted by Derwent Valley Litfest on their Poetry in the Park page; also a vid of my set from 10x10 at the Cumberland Arms back in 2011. Very dark selection. Surprised I was able to commit it all to memory, give or take a few glances at the cheat sheet on a nearby chair…
NINE FUCKING HOURS to delete ten page numbers. Only intended to look at ANOMALIES for a little while to see if ‘PDF Buddy’ website would let me white out from the display file rather than delete from Word. Eventually it did, but only after splitting the file to edit and merging to the bulk of the book afterwards on another site at a cost of $2.99 coz the entire manuscript exceeded free online file restrictions.
I made another printout but am not happy with the letter quality compared to previous attempt a few months ago – PDF made from original word masters, same laser printer – can only be toner cartridge and that shitty high gloss 100gsm copier paper I bought to appropriate thickness of assorted paperstock for the finished article. I prefer a rough matte finish. Prefer recycled, cartridge paper finish. Not slippery high glare nonsense.
I had a read through the standard book and am really pleased with the sequenced progression of material – from my 1989 late teen angst / horror mag appearances and poetry journals through to stage rants and essays, culminating with a little Edinburgh Fringe Festival diary, poems written during sessions with my evening class in autumn 2014 and a gig supporting one of my spoken word heroes in Newcastle.
Tonight I’m just typing this straight into the file. Listening to Bad Pollyanna and looking forward to their third album. They are playing a new material showcase in Huddersfield next month, but I don’t think I can afford any more music gigs for a while. Need to stay in Cellar Twelve and get my books ready. Aiming to be asleep by eleven tonight and hopefully not awake again till seven. 9.10pm.
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